NEWS WAITAKI HERALD, JANUARY 7, 2015 Shooting her town By NICOLA WOLFE nicola.wolfe@fairfaxmedia.co.nz O amaru’s Maddy Maxwell has a passion to see her town on film. Oamaru on screen: Oamaruwoman Maddy Maxwell is passionate about bringing film and opportunities to the Waitaki district. She also featured as an extra in The Hobbit trilogies. Photo: NICOLA WOLFE/FAIRFAX NZ Maxwell has been involved in a number of projects in the district in the last three years including The Hobbit and Lexi, and hopes to encourage more production companies to the district. ‘‘I think we live in a really interesting and different place. We have so much to offer the rest of the world doesn’t know about,’’ she said. Maxwell, who has lived in Oamaru 23 years, has always been interested in theatre and film, and first became involved in the industry when she began teaching drama 12 years ago. She started children’s classes after gaining a variety of contacts, skills and experiences from volunteering on committees when her own children started school. It wasn’t until The Hobbit trilogy began filming in the area in 2011 that real film opportunities opened. ‘‘It’s one of those dream passions that people think they’d like to do, but it can often take a long time to come up. When an opportunity has come up, I jumped to the chance to work in front of the camera as an extra or behind the scenes.’’ Maxwell spent 10 days working as an extra for the Lake Town scenes in the latest film. She also doubled as a local casting assistant for the movie. More recently, she has worked as a casting director for locally-filmed commercials and on casting and as co-producer for Lexi (2013), a production which she is ‘‘most proud’’ of. ‘‘The final result, look of the film and the way people responded to it was worth all the hours we put in.’’ She also works front of house at the Oamaru Opera House. Watching people enjoy their first on-screen experience is part of the passion behind her job, she said. ‘‘I enjoy seeing people be extras for the first time, the excitement there is waiting to be in front of the camera. Nearly everyone enjoys the buzz.’’ In fact, Maxwell is so passionate about seeing the district expressed in film she started a production company. Using local knowledge of people and places within the district, A Stone’s Throw Productions is a way to ‘‘connect with other film and production companies’’ and promote the district as great place for filming. ‘‘Getting [the district] out there, showing our scenery, the different people – it’s all part of the passion of the job.’’ She is also passionate about working with companies who are just starting out in the industry. Waitaki’s culture available online A new online portal will give Oamaruvians access to all things cultural at the click of a button. The website, Culture Waitaki, is the new collaborative online home of the Forrester Gallery, North Otago Museum, Waitaki District Libraries & Archive and Oamaru Opera House. All four organisations are part of the Waitaki District Council and represent the cultural heritage of the Waitaki district. Forrester Gallery curator Alice Lake-Hammond said the project had been under development for a while. ‘‘Like all good things, great collaboration takes time and the result is a real testament to how well we work together as a team. ‘‘The Forrester Gallery has been online since 2008, allowing us to share our collections and exhibitions with a wider audience. ‘‘This new website is an exten- sion of that. It strengthens our programme and connects it with that of our colleagues. ‘‘We are looking forward to sharing more as the site continues to develop.’’ Other members of the Culture Waitaki community also shared their excitement over the new website. ‘‘I am really excited about sharing more of our collections and their stories via the website,’’ North Otago Museum curator Chloe Searle said. ‘‘As we move towards the redevelopment of the cultural facilities we want to do more online. Our latest exhibition, From Little Towns in a Far Land, will be accompanied by informative blog posts about local World War I stories on the Culture Waitaki site.’’ Oamaru Public Library community services librarian Jean Rivett said at last there will be a one-stop shop where the community and visitors can easily access a range of vibrant and exciting activities, events and exhibitions in the district. ‘‘As community services librarian I welcome the possibilities that Culture Waitaki provides to showcase the library’s expanding calendar of evening events, programmes for youth and the young at heart. ‘‘I urge everyone to keep an eye on Culture Waitaki and not fail to miss the beat of our town.’’ Waitaki District Archives curator Chris Meech said he was excited to see how the website would share Oamaru’s unique culture activities with other communities. ‘‘Culture Waitaki gives us the ability to share our resources with North Otago and the world,’’ he said. ‘‘We are looking forward to extending services to the com- munity and engaging people in new and innovative ways.’’ There is also a great oppor- tunity to expand the website to include other groups and organisations,’’ Lake-Hammond said. ‘‘We’ve built the site to develop and grow alongside our organisations and our community. ‘‘We’ve started with the basics, a what’s on and a blog and we intend to add more of our collections and resources to the site in the future. ‘‘The potential is endless and we are excited to finally be able to share Culture Waitaki with the world.’’ Visit Culture Waitaki at culturewaitaki.org.nz. 3 A safety message from Network Waitaki A safety message from Network Waitaki There are times beyond Network Waitaki’s control when an outage will cause accidental power surge that may damage your appliances at home or at work. 6474072AE The electricity company that Delivers power in North Otago Ensure that your appliances are surge protected